Grinch Cookies (From Scratch!)
Here’s a unique addition to your Christmas cookie tray: Grinch cookies! I actually developed this recipe several years ago and can’t believe I haven’t shared it here sooner. These cookies are incredibly soft and chewy, fun, and kids love them! Grinch cookies are the perfect accompaniment to a Grinch movie night (with plenty of hot chocolate and marshmallows, too). Festive and cute, they’re dyed Grinch-green and decorated with colorful red and green M&M candies. We’ll infuse a hint of peppermint extract in the dough too–just enough to add a wintery flavor, but not so much that it’s overwhelming.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
The dough is made from scratch: no cake mix or pudding mix here! Subtle mint flavor: make sure to use peppermint extract, not mint. No chilling required: the cookies still come out soft and chewy though! Dough can be made in advance or frozen: instructions for this are below. Ready in 30 minutes: we love a fast and flavorful cookie around here!
What You Need
Most of these ingredients are pretty straightforward, but let’s go over a few of the important ones before we get started.
Softened butter. I like using unsalted butter to have better control of the salt in the recipe, but you could use salted butter and reduce the salt to ½ teaspoon. Your butter should be softened, but don’t let it get so warm that it’s melty or appears oily on the outside, or your dough will spread too much! Peppermint extract. Make sure to use peppermint extract and not mint extract! Mint tends to taste a bit like toothpaste, while the peppermint has a more festive taste. Just a teaspoon is plenty to give this recipe a subtle mint flavor. Cornstarch. This keeps our Grinch cookies thick and prevents them from spreading. It also helps us avoid a chilling step in this recipe! Food coloring. Of course this is optional, but it is helpful for a true Grinch-y feel. I recommend using gel food coloring; it’s more potent, and you won’t have to use near as much as you would with liquid food coloring. I used “leaf green” coloring for these cookies. M&M candies. I use the festive red and green bag, but you could really use whatever colors you like here. I save about ¼ cup of these for pressing into the tops of the cookies after they come out of the oven.
SAM’S TIP: Some people like to add red candy/sprinkle hearts to their Grinch cookies to mimic the Grinch’s “two-sizes too small” heart. Feel free to add these in along with or instead of the M&Ms! This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Grinch Cookies
SAM’S TIP: If your dough got too warm and your cookies start to spread too much, just place your cookie dough in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. Stay tuned for even more NEW Christmas cookie recipes–I’ve got quite a few to share with you this month 🥰 Enjoy! Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find all of my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
More No-Chill Christmas Cookies
